A Laois historical society is going out into the community this week to ask for support in their petition.

Abbeyleix & District Historical Society is inviting people of Abbeyleix and the wider Laois community to sign their petition on Saturday March 14 at Cleland’s Eurospar or SuperValu.

The aim of this petition is to propose Abbeyleix to host the annual Famine commemoration in 2027. Organiser of the campaign, Mr Noel Burke, aims to deliver the petition to Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Patrick O'Donovan. 

For more background on the story, click here.

"This commemoration would honour the hundreds who perished in the Abbeyleix Workhouse during the Great Famine, a tragedy that shaped our parish, our county, and our national story," Mr Burke told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

As part of this initiative, the Abbeyleix Men’s Shed is preparing to construct a replica workhouse cart, the type once used to transport the poorest and most vulnerable to the workhouse gates.

A re‑enactment is planned for May 2027, beginning at the town square and proceeding to the original workhouse site behind the present Community Nursing Unit, with participants in period dress and high nelly bicycles.

"We also anticipate that the Minister will visit the overflow famine burial ground on the Carlow Road, rediscovered and named The Gate to Heaven by Martin Fennelly, as well as Mountmellick and the Donaghmore Workhouse Museum," Mr Burke said.

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"Your signature matters. Please note, you are not obliged to donate any money or support any other petition when you sign this petition online. We extend our sincere thanks to the Laois County Councillors who have already expressed their support," Mr Burke finished.

Those interested in supporting the petition can sign it online here, or in person at Cleland's Eurospar or Breslin's Supervalu Abbeyleix.